NOLE IN THE WTF FINAL: Don't Stop Me Now!

After his win over Del Potro this afternoon, Nole said that he is ecstatic to be in the final and that he has no intentions of stopping there

The sort of thing any fan likes to hear, especially this one  

So, I'll be going to the O2 tomorrow come rain or shine.

For all Nole fans here ( ) and elsewhere :



Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time
I feel alive and the world it's turning inside out Yeah!
I'm floating around in ecstasy
So don't stop me now don't stop me
'Cause I'm having a good time having a good time

I'm a shooting star leaping through the skies
Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity
I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva
I'm gonna go go go
There's no stopping me

I'm burning through the skies Yeah!
Two hundred degrees
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm trav'ling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man of you

Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball don't stop me now
If you wanna have a good time just give me a call
Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time)
Don't stop me now (Yes I'm having a good time)
I don't want to stop at all


Don't stop me don't stop me don't stop me
Hey hey hey!
Don't stop me don't stop me
Ooh ooh ooh (I like it)
Don't stop me have a good time good time
Don't stop me don't stop me
Ooh ooh Alright
I'm burning through the skies Yeah!
Two hundred degrees


good time)
I don't wanna stop at all

La la la la laaaa
La la la la
La la laa laa laa laaa
La la laa la la la la la laaa hey!!....






GO NOLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So it's going to be a dream final tomorrow:

20.00

Novak Djokovic (1)

vs

Roger Federer (2)



NOLEISTHEBEST against the REST...Bring it OOOOOOOOOOOON

Sorry you won't be having such a good time tomorrow at the same time!

AALLLLEEEZZZZZZ FEDERER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The world wants Federer to win. This guy winning is the only positive news in this world.

Tenez wrote:The world wants Federer to win. This guy winning is the only positive news in this world.

That's why we love you

sphairistike wrote:Sorry you won't be having such a good time tomorrow at the same time!

you bet you I will. I know how to enjoy myself and make the most of every situation I'm in. Just like Nole

I'm so happy about the final, I've actually opened a bottle of red to toast to it, to all tennis fans around the big blue ball !

Well, it's the morning after the night before....and I'm still having such a good time, I don't want to stop at aaaaaaaaaaaaaaal

The sky are grey and the drizzle is turning into rain, but it's all blue skies and sunshine in my corner this morning.

Had a sore throat spray and two paracetamols trying to revive my cheering instruments for tonight. Hot vegetable soup galore....I wish this adrenaline could let off a bit so I could have a little kip ....

I suppose I'll have plenty of time during the long off-season to recover....

get well soon.

Federer v Murray 2012 H2H 3/2

Federer v Djoko 2012 H2H 2 all.

An important match indeed.

tenez what is your favorite match up in tennis today?

I woudl say it's Fed v Nadal on clay. That's in effect Fed's only real unsolved challenge.

But to watch it has to be peak Nalby v peak Federer. That to me is the best tennis. The others are just providing Federer a physical challenge, not a purely tennis/shot making wise as the other top 5 are miles behind him shot (and eye/hand coord) wise.

What about you?

Tenez wrote:get well soon.

Federer v Murray 2012 H2H 3/2

Federer v Djoko 2012 H2H 2 all.

An important match indeed.

thanks

I didn't realise Fed turned over H2H with Murray last night (knew about the 2 all with Nole).
That must be motivating him like nothing else...

Of all three: Nadal, Murray and Nole, Nadal always played mind games how he didn't mind being number two behind Roger, Murray hates Fed's guts but can't do anything about it and Nole has always been cocky and had no problem saying he wanted to be number one, which is why Fed, viewing himself as eternal number one hates his guts. Remember the Miami racquet smashing?
The last one definitely the healthiest rivalry, no love lost between the two.
And although Nadal's tennis visually fits Fed's like a glove, I think that with a matured Novak, Federer will met his match tonight in every aspect of the game.
I wish people would see the difference between Murray's and Novak's baseline mindsets, and today's match is going to be a percfect opportunity for it .
Murray's aggression is deceptive, defensive and short-living as it is not backed by belief.
Novak's is relentless and attacking: he is a constrained, properly aggressive counter-puncher with the undeveloped attacking game.

i miss nalby big time! he was just such a joy to watch when he was on it.
I feel he was the only player where you could question is this guy more talented than fed? Although feds was struggling with an injury those 3rd and 4th sets were just phenomenal from nalby in their 05 masters tussle.

Another one that made me speechless was that french open semi last year with novak was just WOW. But since then it hasn't lived up to the expectations (natural), so im pondering a rethink.

I did really like safin vs fed matches 2bh ala 05 aussie semi.

The pre-match talk


"I love playing against Novak," said Federer, the two-time defending champion. "He's had a great year. He's had a great tournament so far. He played another good, tough match today against Juan Martin, who had him on the ropes."For me, I think for both of us, it's pretty straightforward. I think we've got to press out the last juice that's left in our body and make it a successful year end, even though it's been successful for everybody who has been taking part in this tournament. But it is a big opportunity playing sort of the last match of the season."
"We just took a little more time to do the postmatch recovery programme because I'm going to play on Monday," he said. "I needed to be fresh and ready for a press conference, as you guys always can be very challenging." Djokovic later handed out chocolates to journalists as thanks for their "cooperation" in 2012.
"That's very nice and thoughtful of Novak at year end," Federer said. "I must say, I'm impressed."

noleisthebest wrote:I wish people would see the difference between Murray's and Novak's baseline mindsets, and today's match is going to be a percfect opportunity for it .
Murray's aggression is deceptive

I (or should I say "we") wish you coudl also see the deceptive aggressive tennis from Novak cause I now see him as a more defensive player than Murray himself. At least Murray hammers his BH. DJoko doesn't hit hard neither BH and FH and in fact doesn't even hit his smashes hard. He has won Murray twice recently from a set down and was also a set down v Delpo yesterday and does get through when his opponent fitness drops a bit. It almost happened at Cincy as well v Fed. It happened to Tsonga and Seppi at the FO and quite a few times at the USO if yuo remember. It's only when his opponents have covered some miles that he actually has a chance to win....not so much at the beginning when fitness is no issue yet.

luvsports! wrote:i miss nalby big time! he was just such a joy to watch when he was on it.
I feel he was the only player where you could question is this guy more talented than fed? Although feds was struggling with an injury those 3rd and 4th sets were just phenomenal from nalby in their 05 masters tussle.

Another one that made me speechless was that french open semi last year with novak was just WOW. But since then it hasn't lived up to the expectations (natural), so im pondering a rethink.

I did really like safin vs fed matches 2bh ala 05 aussie semi.

Yes true. The problem with Djoko's game is that though he doesn't topspin nearly as much as Nadal he sends teh ball with clear whip of the wrist allowing him to get good angles and engage in long rallies but he hardly hits DTL FH winners. He used to a bit more in the past but now it's only safe shots....helped, as says Henman, by amazing fitness.

Tenez wrote:

I (or should I say "we") wish you coudl also see the deceptive aggressive tennis from Novak cause I now see him as a more defensive player than Murray himself. At least Murray hammers his BH. DJoko doesn't hit hard neither BH and FH and in fact doesn't even hit his smashes hard. He has won Murray twice recently from a set down and was also a set down v Delpo yesterday and does get through when his opponent fitness drops a bit. It almost happened at Cincy as well v Fed. It happened to Tsonga and Seppi at the FO and quite a few times at the USO if yuo remember. It's only when his opponents have covered some miles that he actually has a chance to win....not so much at the beginning when fitness is no issue yet.

I don't equate aggression with hammering the ball but continuing relentless pressing of the opponent.
Hammering the ball will get you nowhere with Fed. The "new" Murray is a perfect example of it.


Anyway, here's a bit more on what Fed thinks of Nole :

"I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Novak this week. I thought he was a bit subdued vs. Tsonga now he's playing really well and that's
what he showed again today. I think I'm in for a tough match; he's playing physical stuff, he's moving well, I've got to take it to him. I'm going to take my chances. We've both had great seasons so it's nice we're meeting in the final.”

I have no doubt you will love ONE particular adjective he has used...

what do you see as an enjoyable match up of the future?

Tenez wrote:
he hardly hits DTL FH winners.

how about you count how many Fed and Nole hit those tonight?
should be an easy one if you're right.

A very interesting stat:

A fast start is crucial: The winner of the first set has prevailed in 10 of their last 11 meetings.

Tenez wrote:I (or should I say "we") wish you coudl also see the deceptive aggressive tennis from Novak cause I now see him as a more defensive player than Murray himself. At least Murray hammers his BH. DJoko doesn't hit hard neither BH and FH and in fact doesn't even hit his smashes hard. .

Hey!? We discussed this many times, it seems like you're heading towards my opinion?

i dont think feds has ever come back from a set down against novak

noleisthebest wrote:
I don't equate aggression with hammering the ball but continuing relentless pressing of the opponent.
Hammering the ball will get you nowhere with Fed. The "new" Murray is a perfect example of it.

But it's important to call a spade a spade. One cannot be relentless And aggressive. Aggression in tennis means short points cause an agressive player has to take a risk and risk means a chance for an UE. It's as simple as that.
As teh key stats showed, Djoko does more running than Murray...how bad is that?

"

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Novak this week. I thought he was a bit subdued vs. Tsonga now he's playing really well and that's
what he showed again today. I think I'm in for a tough match; he's playing physical stuff, he's moving well, I've got to take it to him. I'm going to take my chances. We've both had great seasons so it's nice we're meeting in the final.”

I have no doubt you will love ONE particular adjective he has used...

Yes of course, it will be Federer forcing the issue again.

Tenez, did you give us your prediction for the final tonight yet?

What do you think? Please don't say 2 easy sets, 63, 62 for a Djoko win, or something like that.

gallery play wrote:

Tenez wrote:I (or should I say "we") wish you coudl also see the deceptive aggressive tennis from Novak cause I now see him as a more defensive player than Murray himself. At least Murray hammers his BH. DJoko doesn't hit hard neither BH and FH and in fact doesn't even hit his smashes hard. .

Hey!? We discussed this many times, it seems like you're heading towards my opinion?

Yes I am heading your opinion...cause simply those 2 have been heading on opposite directions of late, don;t you think? Djoko was certainly the more aggressive early in his career and up to recently while Murray has been trying hard to be aggresive.

And I also believe that under heavy pressure moment Djoko will still be the more likely to take a risk than Murray. But it's true that Djoko certainly relies a lot on his opponent tiring.

Since he realised in 2006? that it was easy to beat Nadal just by sending the ball back, his game has certainly become softer and softer.

I have to go with Federer today.

Petchers (My hero) did some sterling analysis on the Federer serve. Whilst his first serve average speed is 8mph slower than Djokovic's, he has been winning the most points of anyone in the tournament on first serve. Quite simply Nole will not have as many chances at the Fed serve compared with Delpo who tired as the match went on.

The FH for Federer is key. In the first set against Murray it sprung some errors, but once Murray's 2nd serve speed dropped off into the 80's, he was toast. Much also depends on the length of strokes that Djokovic lands to the Federer FH. Also one has to ask how Djokovic will handle the Federer BH slice return on the serve which cut him to ribbons at Wimbledon and Cincinnati.

Roger in 2 for me and a 7th title.

luvsports! wrote:what do you see as an enjoyable match up of the future?

Frankly, it's pretty gloomy from what I can see. I'd like conds to speed up a bit so we can see more aggressive tennis winning. However it's very difficult to see interesting tennis post Federer. It's going to be harder and stronger with very little chance for talent to express, be it through those huge shots a la Rao or JJ or though 8 lungs players a la Tomic/djoko/Murray.

legendkillar wrote:I have to go with Federer today.

Petchers (My hero) did some sterling analysis on the Federer serve. Whilst his first serve average speed is 8mph slower than Djokovic's, he has been winning the most points of anyone in the tournament on first serve. Quite simply Nole will not have as many chances at the Fed serve compared with Delpo who tired as the match went on.

The FH for Federer is key. In the first set against Murray it sprung some errors, but once Murray's 2nd serve speed dropped off into the 80's, he was toast. Much also depends on the length of strokes that Djokovic lands to the Federer FH. Also one has to ask how Djokovic will handle the Federer BH slice return on the serve which cut him to ribbons at Wimbledon and Cincinnati.

Roger in 2 for me and a 7th title.

Yup, me too.

SR wrote:Tenez, did you give us your prediction for the final tonight yet?

What do you think? Please don't say 2 easy sets, 63, 62 for a Djoko win, or something like that.

Yes, I got that wrong yesterday...though It could certainly have got that way had Murray kept his head on his shoulder.

BUt what I have always said is that all matches are in Fed's racquet and how guessing the form he turns up is very difficult to predict. Even he doesn;t know. He certainly played well yesterday but Murray completely collapsed. We know Djoko will not collapse.
I hope Federer will win but at 31 lining up 3 matches in a row is not easy...certainly not at this level. Only a sub par perf will see him lose.

legendkillar wrote:I have to go with Federer today.

Petchers (My hero) did some sterling analysis on the Federer serve. Whilst his first serve average speed is 8mph slower than Djokovic's, he has been winning the most points of anyone in the tournament on first serve. Quite simply Nole will not have as many chances at the Fed serve compared with Delpo who tired as the match went on.

But thats not quite a good stat actually from Petchy cause Delpo has teh power to hit his serve through Djoko but Fed's pace is easier to handle for Djoko who is an excellent returner. Against Djoko, Pace is everything, otherwise he flexes his body like a mutant and brings everything back.

The FH for Federer is key. In the first set against Murray it sprung some errors, but once Murray's 2nd serve speed dropped off into the 80's, he was toast. Much also depends on the length of strokes that Djokovic lands to the Federer FH. Also one has to ask how Djokovic will handle the Federer BH slice return on the serve which cut him to ribbons at Wimbledon and Cincinnati.

Roger in 2 for me and a 7th title.

The key is essentially how sharp Fed will be. That will decides the length of rallies and help him save energy and close the match. If it drags on by playing safer, he is cooked.

Tenez wrote:
But it's important to call a spade a spade. One cannot be relentless And aggressive. Aggression in tennis means short points cause an agressive player has to take a risk and risk means a chance for an UE. It's as simple as that.
As teh key stats showed, Djoko does more running than Murray...how bad is that?

OK, I can see you are using one word where I use two different ones:
the key word being "aggressive" which you seem to use instead of or the same way as "attacking". I use them all differently.

When Novak is serving and dictating the point, he counter-punches aggressively, looking for a position from which to finish the point off. He stands on the centre baseline and the other guy does the running. His tempo is relentless.

When Murray serves, he now tries to go for shorter points by hammering the ball but very quickly runs out of steam as the hammering takes a lot out of him as he is not a natural but beefed-up athlete.

Fed is also more than happy to do the same in about 50% of his matches, and goes forward only when he runs out of options these days.
He did it last night as he just could not hang out with Murray on the baseline, due to him often being a step too slow.

Court being slow, he knows he won't be able to rally for too long against the best athlete on the tour (and please let me know since when it has become shameful to be a good athlete who has amazing legs that compensate for the lack of natural upper body strength which Fed has galore, but somehow that's OK as it gives him plenty of free firepower to hammer his shots albeit more naturally than Murray and Delpo), so he'll have to "take it to him"
So it will be arms & legs against legs only. One has to make most of one's got. WE can't ask for more.

I suppose the appropriate illustration for aggressive counter-punching vs the classic one would be to compare Djokovic and Simon.

For some reason, I can't remember much of how Novak played Fed this year, but predict there certainly isn't going to be much time for slip-ups and slow-starting, esp as Novak will have watched the last night's match and Fed's adventures at the net.
Yes that FH DTL could make all the difference

As for the Nole "lite" shots, he does inject pace occasionally, but sparingly as those are very energy consuming. After all he is gluten-free and has lost a lot of weight unlike some who have piled on pounds of muscle and can afford to bludgeon/hammer the ball to their heart's content.

noleisthebest wrote:
Fed is also more than happy to do the same in about 50% of his matches, and goes forward only when he runs out of options these days.
He did it last night as he just could not hang out with Murray on the baseline, due to him often being a step too slow.

But Fed's shots are pretty risky, even from teh baseline cause he has not got that power and therefore it;s all about timing with him. This is why it's not in his interest to keep the rally going.

He knows he won't be able to rally for too long against the best athlete on the tour (and please let me know since when it has become shameful to be a good athlete

Well quite easy answer. It's shameful since we do not know who is a natural athlete and who is not but even more so since we know some were never going to be great athletes but have become the best to join Nadal's freak level and even go one level higher. On one side we have Murray doubling his brother in size and on the other hand an ashmatic who despite having been brought up in pizzeria just recently found out he had a gluten allergy.

I will never believe those top athletes are "natural"...I can just about envisage they might be "legal" athletes....but certianly not natural.

I think we observe our favourite players a bit selectively however hard we try to see them objectively.

I can understand why Novak's 2011 made a few people raise their eyebrows and suspect that he doped.

I don't think he is.

Feel free to try and change my mind

noleisthebest wrote:Feel free to try and change my mind

When there is a will there is a way...I am certainly not keen to force the issue there. I was just responding about the comment that there is no shame of being uber fit nowadays. Maybe no shame but certainly many questions.

The way I see Nole's transformation is that he simply pulled his socks up and got his head down fully commited,
You know that he loves life quite a bit and doesn't mind smelling roses along the way.
His Wimbers SF loss to Berd was the rock bottom for him. DC win helped a lot but the off season even more as he changed his training regime and didn't go to the Serbian mountains exclusively, but combined the Alps and Dubai for a change (took a leaf out of Fed's book).
He also matured physically esp in his upper body and bulked up (still a string bean compared to everyone else in top 10) a bit but going gluten-free lost quite a bit o weight and actually looked worryingly gaunt at the end of clay season in 2011.
He wasn't losing to Nadal convincingly prior 2011 anyway, so a combination of the above components must have clicked in when he won AO and took it from there.
He is a confidence player and his first clay win over Nadal in Madrid was his career milestone match.
If he was doping he'd be hitting the ball a lot harder.

For me, it was a matter of time before Nole had his breakthrough. I could not quite predict 2011, but where he is now is what I always believed he'd be.

He's always been there, close to Federer and Nadal, biding his time and maturing both physically, mentally and gamewise.
And let's not forget how much he suffered and was put back due to rigged draws.

Okay guys, I'm not gonna get into a debate Fed vs. Nole as we all know where my stand is. I'd rather debate about today's match. I know it is important for both of them as:

1. There's no love lost between them so they really wanna beat each other
2. It's worth 500 points after all (and some $$$), so one match is equivalent to a full ATP 500 tournament win

Now, apart from that, they both have extra reasons.

1. For Fed I think the major one is that he wants to make again a statement at year end, plus he wants to have the best chance possible to regain #1 ranking in 2013 and a win here would help, especially that after all he skipped Paris just to give himself the best chance here so he wants to win, also he already trails Nole 200 pts from the RR phase. That sums up Fed's extra motivation (apart from beating Nole) to win this match.

2. For Nole, I'd think, and I'd love if you guys could discuss this too, that a win is necessary if he wants to be considered the undisputed #1 at YE. Why would you ask? The answer is obvious. If he loses, Fed's 2012 can be summed up as, 1 slam (same as the others from the top 4, incl. Nole, and the slam won is actually still considered the most prestigious), 3 ATP 1000 (same as Nole, but he got them before chronologically, so in a way he got the better ones ), 2 ATP 500 (one more than Nole) and an Olympic medal. So if Fed wins WTF, he'd have won more tournaments than Nole, plus by beating him he'd have a positive H2H against him for this year, and actually a positive H2H against all his closest rivals, bar Rafa against whom the H2H is even at 1-1 (we could push it to 2-1 in favor of Fed if we include last year WTF ). So wouldn't it look like Fed should be the #1 then? I certainly think so, what do you guys think?

So it seems Nole has all the extra motivation skewed in his favor for today's match as he has to win to show he is the uncontested #1 player as he'd have then a 3-2 H2H vs. Fed and more tournament wins than Fed. I'd then say Fed, as I want Fed to show that despite not being #1 at YE, he is the "winningest" player in the ATP!

This match can't have been more poised if we wanted it to be!
So much past history and pride on the line for both.

Both players have inflicted each other some bruising losses:
I needn't go any further than The Shot & the two SF USO losses Fed had to endure having had 2 match points each time.
And what about RG SF 2011 and The Finger, possibly match of the decade for me.
Both players going through some searing pain there.

Then we have all digs Fed had at Nole in the past regarding lack of his fitness.

Things have changed in the past a bit and Nole has "earnt" Fed's respect now...but still, there's nothing Fed loves more than schooling the youngenses a lesson or two in tennis...

Well the youngen he is facing tonight is just as hungry and ready, so we'll see

sphairistike wrote:
2. For Nole, I'd think, and I'd love if you guys could discuss this too, that a win is necessary if he wants to be considered the undisputed #1 at YE. Why would you ask? The answer is obvious. If he loses, Fed's 2012 can be summed up as, 1 slam (same as the others from the top 4, incl. Nole, and the slam won is actually still considered the most prestigious), 3 ATP 1000 (same as Nole, but he got them before chronologically, so in a way he got the better ones ), 2 ATP 500 (one more than Nole) and an Olympic medal. So if Fed wins WTF, he'd have won more tournaments than Nole, plus by beating him he'd have a positive H2H against him for this year, and actually a positive H2H against all his closest rivals, bar Rafa against whom the H2H is even at 1-1 (we could push it to 2-1 in favor of Fed if we include last year WTF ). So wouldn't it look like Fed should be the #1 then? I certainly think so, what do you guys think?

So it seems Nole has all the extra motivation skewed in his favor for today's match as he has to win to show he is the uncontested #1 player as he'd have then a 3-2 H2H vs. Fed and more tournament wins than Fed. I'd then say Fed, as I want Fed to show that despite not being #1 at YE, he is the "winningest" player in the ATP!

Completely agree. And we have to factor in that Federer was far from 100% in that FO struggling against very low ranked players, funnily even against grass specialist...on clay.

Time to start getting ready...Lump in the throat and butterflies in the stomach already gone crazy

On the train (with 10 seconds to spare & the next train cancelled) focusing on the match and the supporting strategy...
I'm taking the match seriously, no tanking!

I'm in and ready. Heart beat moment coming liads of Serbian flags around me Go Nole!!!!!

Right...about to start! stay tuned. May the best win. (Note I did not say "better").

noleisthebest wrote:I'm in and ready. Heart beat moment coming liads of Serbian flags around me Go Nole!!!!!

Have you got a good seat?

Castle is irritatingly funny.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:I'm in and ready. Heart beat moment coming liads of Serbian flags around me Go Nole!!!!!

Have you got a good seat?

I do and I like what I see

You were totally right, Nole has not been stopped and hopefully he will go on in the same way next year It was nice to read your perceptions. Nitb, you should always be in these big events to give us your comments with such an enthusiasm, thank you and Noleee